This set of kerb stones, in the parish area of Holy Trinity, is located to the west of the eastern path shortly after it has turned northwards. Immediately to the south of it stands the headstone of Mildred and Thomas Arthur Nutcombe, under a tree. The kerb stones are liable to be completely submerged beneath ivy and leaves.

Inscription

’In loving memory of Mildred Emmeline Worledge
died December 22 1917 aged 29 years’
“Joy is only bought with sacrifice.”

Mildred Emmeline Worledge (1888‒1917),

She was a volunteer nurse and member of the Cambs Voluntary Aid Detachment working at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and St Chad’s Hospital, Grange Road. She died of peritonitis on 22 December 1917.

Mildred was born in Saffron Walden in 1888, her parents being Charles George Worledge (1859‒1940), a commercial traveller in groceries, and Elizabeth Ann (‛Bertha’; 1860‒before 1911) Worledge (née King). The family lived at East Street, Saffron Walden, but by 1901 had moved to 141 Gwydir Street (Petersfield), Cambridge.

Mildred was a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment (V.A.D.), an organisation founded in 1909, providing field nursing services in hospitals in Britain and overseas, particularly active in the two world wars. (Vera Brittain and Agatha Christie are two of the better known members of the V.A.D., both of whom wrote about their experiences during the First World War: in A Testament of Youth and Autobiography, respectively.) Mildred joined the Cambridgeshire 8 V.A.D. when it was founded in about 1910. She took a keen interest in the work of the Red Cross, and was a member of the Red Cross Society.

St Chad’s Hospital

During the war, she worked as a volunteer nurse at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and St Chad’s Hospital. St Chad’s, a large house, 84 Grange Road in west Cambridge, was used as a convalescent hospital during the First World War, and was run by the Red Cross using V.A.D. nurses. The house was at the southwest corner of the First Eastern General Hospital, opposite Herschel Road and was used to care for its convalescents, so freeing up beds for incoming war casualties. (It now houses students of St Catharine’s College.)

She died of peritonitis on 22 December 1917. Her funeral at Mill Road Cemetery on 26 December 1917 was described as being of ‛semi-military character’, in the presence of wounded soldiers, representatives of the V.A.D., and the Matron and members of the Addenbrooke’s nursing staff and patients. (See download for a description of her funeral.)Mildred Worledge funeral report

Mildred had at least two siblings, both of whom served in and survived the First World War: Frank Charles (1887‒1964), who was in France at the time of her funeral and Hubert Stanley (1891‒1962?), who attended the funeral.